Zhao Ming: 60% of the users of the new Honor phone are from Apple and Huawei, and Apple can’t just rely on shouting slogans – yqqlm

Honor previously announced that the Honor Magic4 Pro, which was originally scheduled to go on sale on April 2, will be postponed to April 22 due to the impact of the global epidemic on supply. Honor CEO Zhao Ming explained in an interview with the media that the reason for the delay is mainly to better stock up and prevent the shortage of supply on MagicV.

In addition, Zhao Ming mentioned that more than 60% of the purchasers of the Magic 4 standard version that have been launched are from Apple and Huawei. He emphasized that although domestic manufacturers are shouting against Apple, they cannot rely on simple slogans.

“Honor has enough patience. The rise of high-end mobile phones is by no means an overnight success. We must persist in building on the underlying innovation and core capabilities.”

Benchmarking Apple can’t just shout slogans

Huawei is absent in the high-end market, and Apple has become the biggest beneficiary. Many domestic manufacturers have also shouted the slogan of benchmarking against Apple and hitting the high-end. Honor is no exception. Zhao Ming previously stated that Honor wants to change Apple’s dominance in the high-end market.

Zhao Ming said that Honor has turned this strategy into actions of various systems. The most important thing is to really benchmark Apple in terms of experience in various fields, and consider how to surpass Apple in all aspects of business. “As an attacker, or a latecomer in the high-end mobile phone market, everyone has very high requirements on you, because he has such a habit. If you want to attract users of other brands, you must have something to attract him. The product, the experience that attracts him can be realized.”

He revealed that after the Magic 4 standard version was launched, more than 60% of the users who purchased the machine came from Apple and Huawei.which makes Honor very excited.

“In various fields, can you come up with an experience that surpasses Apple’s? This is not about raising your hand to shout slogans or waving your fist, but to be real. So we must benchmark Apple from the dimension of consumer experience, and It’s not a marketing method. The more the marketing shouts, the worse it will eventually fall, because when consumers get their mobile phones, if you over-market them, there will be backlash.”

Zhao Ming said frankly that the advantage of proposing to benchmark Apple is that users are looking forward to Glory. However, in this process of competition and comparison, the development and growth of this high-end mobile phone is real if it can win the recognition of consumers. Honor has enough patience. The rise of high-end mobile phones is by no means an overnight success. We must persist in building on the underlying innovation and core capabilities.

Which is more important, self-research or cooperation?

Both Huawei and Apple are advocates of self-developed core technologies, such as SoC chips and operating systems.

In Zhao Ming’s view, joint innovation with the supply chain, or self-research, is just a choice and means. Taking chips as an example, Honor has the ability to develop and design chips other than SoCs. A chip is a complex system and project. Honor will choose whether the chip solution is self-developed or cooperative according to its own needs. On the SoC, Qualcomm will be Honor’s strategic partner for a certain period of time.

“The hardware platform determines the lower limit or bottom line of a product, but the ability of comprehensive applications can fully demonstrate the upper limit of the hardware platform. Our current direction is to do the best in the comprehensive solution of mobile phones.” Zhao Ming said, at Qualcomm On the Snapdragon 888 and the next-generation Snapdragon 8 chip platform, Honor is the best in overall performance tuning among all manufacturers.

Zhao Ming said,Although Honor will not make SoCs for a certain period of time, it can coordinate strategically with partners on the demand for SoCs. Based on the understanding of the bottom layer and core technology of the chip, Honor does not use the reference design directly, but can make adjustments in the design and scheduling of GPU, NPU, and ISP.

“We are unswerving in driving the common progress of the industry chain, not only SoC, screen, camera, but also some other such as Bluetooth, WiFi, how to do better in all aspects, we will go all out. Glory still needs to be Embrace the world’s best industrial chain with a very open mind.”

Zhao Ming also cited many examples of joint innovation with the supply chain.

For example, on the screen, the Magic4 series supports LTPO adaptive refresh rate and 1920Hz high-frequency PWM dimming. Before that, the industry’s LTPO screen only supported 480Hz PWM dimming, which is very bad for the human eye in low light conditions. By cooperating with the domestic industry chain, Honor has broken this ceiling. “If it’s just a follower, we think it will be very difficult to win the flagship competition.”

In the field of security, through Qualcomm’s TEE and Honor’s HTEE, the Magic4 series has achieved dual TEE OS operation.

In Zhao Ming’s view, it is difficult to rely solely on glory or suppliers for these technological innovations. For suppliers to make technological breakthroughs, they need to consider whether there are manufacturers who dare to use them, and they must find a big manufacturer to be more confident. “We found that this effect has already appeared, and suppliers in various fields have actively found us to set up a joint laboratory. We test many ideas in the laboratory to define the foundation of the future. I believe that only this way in the future can be broken and solved continuously. The problem of involution in the mobile phone industry.”

How does the longer and longer replacement cycle break the game?

Since independence, Honor has returned to the domestic market at a speed beyond expectations.

Data previously released by Counterpoint showed that China’s smartphone shipments in the fourth quarter of 2021 fell by 11% year-on-year. The competition among manufacturers is fierce, with Apple ranking first, and Honor’s shipment ranking rising to second for the first time after independence.

Although Honor has achieved ideal results, the situation facing the domestic mobile phone industry is not very optimistic since the beginning of this year.

According to data from the Academy of Information and Communications Technology, in February 2022, the shipment of mobile phones in the domestic market was 14.864 million units, a year-on-year decrease of 31.7%. From January to February 2022, the total shipments of mobile phones in the domestic market totaled 47.886 million units, a year-on-year decrease of 22.6%.

There are complex reasons behind the market decline. For example, the consumption power has decreased due to the epidemic, and the replacement cycle has become longer and longer.

Zhao Ming said frankly that under the background of the prolonged replacement cycle, Honor has the longest replacement cycle among almost all brands. “We are also asking me internally how to think about this issue. I said that we should continue to provide good services and upgrades for old users.” He said that because of the long replacement cycle of consumers of the Honor brand, we cannot reduce the quality of service by reducing the service quality. To speed up their switch, this is not what glory is after.

In his view, the company’s integrity also depends on being better for consumers who buy products. Driven by this big logic, Honor wants to attract consumers to switch phones through better products, for example, through some features that users cannot refuse in this generation, let him switch to Honor’s new mobile phone.

From another point of view, Zhao Ming also regards the consumer’s demand for replacement as the driving force for the rapid running of Honor.

“A company must have pressure and motivation, otherwise when you feel most comfortable, it may be the time when great danger comes.” He said that too many mobile phone companies quickly fall from the sky at the peak, so use consumption The needs of competitors and the advantages of competitors, in turn, can further promote the vitality of the entire Honor system.

In the interview, Zhao Ming also constantly emphasized the concept of “survival of the panicked”.

He believes that in the mobile phone industry, we must always be in a state of fear and fear, and we can only survive if we know how to fear. “Any time, even when everyone thinks you are making great progress, you have to be more careful, not to mention today’s magnificent and turbulent waves, you have to be more careful to deal with it.” He emphasized.